Playing without a tank

[Darklone]

I would think about two levels of barbarian. That gives you a nice hitpoint and melee boost, if you need to, otherwise follow the advice of the other posters and use stealth and recon tactics and get yourself that big bow. What's your CON by the way? It doesn't sound like you rolled a 15 or so for that too.

 

[Kesh]

Use stealth. Your rogue probably has Hide and Move Silently; your druid probably have nature-centric stealth spells, and your sorcerer should take spells such as Invisibility. Take your enemy by surprise, use hit-and-run tactics, or even avoid enemies by stealth if possible.

Funny story there. We're on a trail through some woods, looking for missing children. I hear voices ahead and wave the other two back to wait. I sneak up a small hill, and look down to see several kobolds around a fire. The sorcerer decides to come up with me, and sneaks right up.

The druid decides to follow, and rolls something ridiculously low on his Move Silently check.

Needless to say, we had to fight the kobolds.

I would think about two levels of barbarian. That gives you a nice hitpoint and melee boost, if you need to, otherwise follow the advice of the other posters and use stealth and recon tactics and get yourself that big bow. What's your CON by the way? It doesn't sound like you rolled a 15 or so for that too.

My character has:

Str 19
Dex 17
Con 17
Int 11
Wis 15
Cha 13

I got really lucky on my rolls. So I absolutely want a masterwork composite bow ASAP.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I might take a level or two of barbarian in there for extra oomph, but primary rogue sounds like it can work. I need to convince the sorcerer to pick up some more stealth-type spells and the druid to get some summoned animals ready.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

I run a group that doesn't have much of a frontline fighting capability:

GunMage/Rogue - primarily fights with firearms
Psion/thrallherd - mind thrusts from a distance
Necromancer - no Con bonus+1 level template=no HP
Druid/Rogue - Elf, so he uses the bow more than anything

I just adjusted the encounters so that they didn't necessarily have to go toe-to-toe that often. Now the situation isn't as dire, as recently they've added:

half-orc psychic warrior thrall
half-orc rogue
fighter/ranger/legendary captain with dual cutlasses

So things are a little more balanced. Still, none of them can stand up to a pure, strong fighter. Last session I threw one at them to see how they'd do - one level higher than them, 20 Str, 95 HP crit on a 15-20 falchion wielding badass. They managed OK (only one PC dropped, and a couple others were in danger - the PC's had to hold the line or else he might have escaped). As DM, it's my job to adjust the game to the PC's capabilities and provide enough challenge, but not too much.

 

[Vuron]

The druid animal companion (assuming a relatively powerful melee form) should provide a decent amount of muscle at low levels and summon nature ally should provide the brute force needed. Often times is might be worthwhile for the druid to summon 1d3 of a lower level summon ally rather than the biggest solo beast as the multiple attacks help make up for the lack of iterative attacks of a tank character.

The problem is of course that wands of healing become a high priority as the druid will require most of his casting to be spent on summon ally spells.

Considering that you have no tank and only three characters (two of which have finite spell reserves) expect to attempt far less encounters per day as more resources will be expended in each battle.

The other obvious solution is to suggest to the DM that a rotating cast of allies take up the slot of the missing tank. While DMPCs can be problematic a melee focused slot is relatively easy to run and if the DM keeps it 1 level below the PCs shouldn't outshine the PCs.

 

[Darklone]

Funny story there. We're on a trail through some woods, looking for missing children. I hear voices ahead and wave the other two back to wait. I sneak up a small hill, and look down to see several kobolds around a fire. The sorcerer decides to come up with me, and sneaks right up.

The druid decides to follow, and rolls something ridiculously low on his Move Silently check.

Needless to say, we had to fight the kobolds.

Using stealth was probably not meant to get around fights but to get a nice surprise round plus perhaps a full attack action plus sneak attack before the enemies can react... Get Rapid Shot and enjoy your bow. Or TWF and throwing weapons. Better: Both.

My character has:

Str 19
Dex 17
Con 17
Int 11
Wis 15
Cha 13

I got really lucky on my rolls. So I absolutely want a masterwork composite bow ASAP.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I might take a level or two of barbarian in there for extra oomph, but primary rogue sounds like it can work.

Two level barbarian. Uncanny Dodge stacks for you... And get Imp Toughness for some hitpoints. A polearm and Combat Reflexes would go a long way to battlefield control to protect your buddies.

If you do that, you will be the tank and the sneak for your group. The only thing you're missing are feats since Power Attack, Rapid Shot and the TWF feat tree all would work wonderfully for the char.

With two levels of bbn, you only miss 1d6 sneak attack damage. If multiclassing isn't a problem you'd add two levels of fighter for more hitpoints and feats, you'll still be a good rogue for traps and stuff (you will be able to max out at least some important skills with your INT if you increase it at level 4) while being a good frontline warrior (or at least mobile enough and sneaky enough to get away).

 

[Nightfall]

*wonders what it is with people and gunMages these days...*

Anyway taking levels in Barb is a good option too. Other option I always liked was Ranger. Same HD, better BAB, and really good weapon options that balance well with druids.

 

[Vague Jayhawk]

It is best if the DM is able to tailor the encounters to your strengths.

If not, the tank is, by far, the easiest NPC to hire out. Just go to town and find a man-at-arms or two.

 

[Quartz]

Never mind Barbarian, you want levels in Monk!

 

[Sarellion]

Funny story there. We're on a trail through some woods, looking for missing children. I hear voices ahead and wave the other two back to wait. I sneak up a small hill, and look down to see several kobolds around a fire. The sorcerer decides to come up with me, and sneaks right up.

The druid decides to follow, and rolls something ridiculously low on his Move Silently check.

Needless to say, we had to fight the kobolds.

The randomness of the d20. Keep the other guys back unless you all have to sneak. The big range and even probability for all possible numbers will result in someone screwing up with more characters involved

 

[Terath Ninir]

When you can, avoid the direct confrontations. Use stealth and try to get terrain advantages over your enemies. Sure, you'll sometimes have to go toe to toe, but use your strengths whenever you can.